PUBG Mobile reportedly at center of brutal murder case in India

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds may be at the center of a gruesome murder case.

According to a number of reports, a father was murdered by his son in Karnataka, India over a dispute regarding PUBG Mobile. Details regarding the case differ based on the reporting outlet, with information including the cause of the dispute, the name, the age of the alleged perpetrator, and the murder weapon all varying.

The common denominator throughout is that a man in his twenties, most often referred to as Raghuveer Kumbar, was allegedly involved in an altercation with his father over PUBG Mobile. Reports state that the dispute escalated to physical violence and ended with Kumbar’s father dead after being attacked with a weapon. Kumbar fled the scene and was apprehended by police.

Different outlets have alleged Kumbar attacked his father with anything from a kitchen knife to a machete. There have also been varied accounts of what happened after, with some reports saying that neighbors rushed the victim to the hospital while others state Kumbar stayed and dismembered his father.

Details of the case will likely surface with time, but this is the latest example of a media panic in India surrounding the popular game.

PUBG implicated in a number of murders

PUBG Mobile has been at the center of a number of controversies over the last year in Asia. The game has been banned in multiple countries and has been at the center of a number of discussions regarding video game addiction and violence among adolescents.

India in particular has seen the game publicly tied to a variety of tragedies, sometimes under bogus circumstances.

In March, two men died after being struck by a train while reportedly playing the game. While these sorts of accidents are common around the world and are an epidemic in India specifically, the deaths were publicly linked with PUBG Mobile as some cities and districts were making moves to ban the game.

This was followed by reports of a 20-year-old dying after extensively playing PUBG Mobile over the course of 45 days. A number of media outlets linked the man’s death with his binging on PUBG Mobile, but a doctor who had treated him stepped forward and stated that the man had died due to an infection unrelated to his gaming habits.

Video game addiction is a real phenomenon and games like PUBG Mobile are specifically designed to reward players for regular and extensive play. That said, there remains a real likelihood that this tragedy had less to do with the game than some outlets have reported.